The smart building technology is a new and smart way of living. It’s smart, because it’s modern and up to date with the newest technological ways of doing things. It’s above all smart in the way that it makes people save money by having a lot less bills to pay.
In this day and age most homes have at least one smart thing already in them: a smart phone, which pretty much does everything a regular phone can do but also does a lot more. Smart phones are easy to use for everybody from little children to grandparents, because they’re simple but very effective when used correctly. Contrasting smart phones to smart building technology isn’t fair though, even though smart building technology may seem like the smaller step from here on out.
All smart buildings have smart devices, which are all connected to each other via smart hubs that improve the smart building technology with effortless connectivity, perfect control and well-thought automation processes.
That is precisely where smart building technology starts to be smart: it’s smart because it makes everything so easy for people, requiring next to no work at all to take full advantage of all the benefits smart buildings can provide. So what exactly does smart building technology do?
For starters it saves money like nothing else before it ever could by making sure that your energy bill will be as low as possible – only raising when necessary – through efforts like keeping track of electricity usage or having smart meters installed.
That’s not the end of smart building technology though. It also makes sure that your smart home is smart, because smart building technology includes smart tools which will help you with things like smart security, smart heating & cooling systems and smart lighting controls.
But smart buildings are far more than just a bunch of smart devices in one location. Smart buildings are ahead in the game when it comes to innovation for multiple reasons, namely their ability to be constantly upgraded by simply installing new software on top of an already existing smart building system without the need for tearing everything down and starting all over again.
This way smart buildings can stay up-to-date with newer technologies while still being safe from harm, unlike traditional buildings – where every time there needs to be work done on them they must be down for an extended period of time.
These smart building technology smart systems are all controlled via smart hubs that are located at the heart of smart buildings, which is usually someplace near the controller or owner of the smart building.
This way smart building technology can be used to start up smart devices with a single tap on a smartphone or tablet, connect smart kitchen appliances to make meals easier to prepare and even turn off TVs when there’s no one in the room thanks to smart lighting control systems.
All this makes smart buildings without question smarter than regular ones – which is why they’re called “smart” buildings instead of just regular ones. Still though, this only scratches the surface of what smart buildings can do…
Solar smart roofs Solar smart roofs make smart buildings even smarter by providing smart energy for smart devices, or they can charge up smart cars if there’s enough room left over after installing the solar panels on top of the smart building itself. All this makes it possible to commandeer solar power from almost anywhere at any time, making smart buildings 10 times as effective as regular ones when it comes to collecting smart energy.
What adds to that is that fact that smart hubs in these types of smart buildings utilize their own solar power generation systems via rooftop installations, which means next to no other energy form is needed – besides what you need for your kitchen appliances and/or your car(s). In a sense this means all other forms of smart energy can and will be completely eliminated in smart buildings with solar smart roofs.
Having smart devices connect to smart hubs that in turn use their own smart systems to collect smart energy is certainly one of the first steps towards making smart buildings the smartest thing possible, but it’s not smart enough by itself… That’s because all these other forms of energy are still needed for other things like heating & cooling your home, which makes this kind of smart building technology nothing more than a step in the right direction – albeit a big one indeed!
This is why you should also consider adding products like electric car chargers into your smart building technology system if you want your home or office to truly be as smart as it possibly can be. With smart home technology smart cars and smart smart building technology smart vehicles will always have a place to recharge, which in turn makes smart homes smart even when they’re not using smart devices or smart hubs. If you add smart bins into the mix you’ll be able to throw away trash with the help of your smartphone too – making it one hundred times more easy than before. Learn more about smart homes technology with energy solutions.
Because of the volatility of global oil prices, the cost of energy will continue to increase proportionately and especially when our energy demand continues to depend on finite fossil fuels. Similarly, the cost of energy for an average building in the USA or globally will continue to increase proportionately when the main source is from fossil fuels because the price for energy continues to increase due to volatility of oil prices. Solar PV and increased connectivity is an option that seems very promising and could help to reduce or mitigate the issue of climate change and increasing energy prices.
The advent of AI in energy management
The advent of new technologies such as big data analytics, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and blockchain allows for smart building energy management systems that can provide monitoring made possible through the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced data analytics and via wireless connections.
Looking in the future, solar is likely to be sold as a core part of the smart building concept that includes a building energy management system, energy storage, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging and smart appliances. This makes more sense because sourcing all the energy from solar will help to save more money and help to achieve sustainability. Also, EV and smart appliances can help to balance the grid for instance, electric vehicles can be used as temporary storage to connected appliances to reduce power usage when needed.
Also, in the energy management space, lighting and HVAC integration are the two most common systems integrated into the smart building strategy to reduce the energy footprint, but the IoT industry has opened the door to more sensors and hence increased intelligence through data collection. Some of the most common IoT sensors have applications for smart metering, occupancy sensors, water detection, humidity sensors, contact sensors, and carbon monoxide detection among many others.
The whole idea of making your building smart is to allow you to make more informed decisions about the building based on the data it provides. Data is aggregated via IoT (Internet of Things) controls and sensors in a web-based platform that can be monitored, controlled and acted upon in real-time or perhaps using your cellphone. The main advantage of having a smart building is to help facility and property managers gain insight into the detailed workings of their locations and gather useful data to improve building performance and efficiency.
Advantages of integrating solar in a smart building:
Smart buildings utilize machine learning algorithms and can be able to forecast your energy consumption and through demand response mechanisms solar consumption by the building can be increased in times of high solar generation and vice-versa. Through IoT smart appliances can be remotely controlled digitally to adopt on-site demand. For instance, heat pumps, heat storage batteries and air conditioning units can be optimized with solar generation and be a way of using excess solar electricity as heat.
Battery storage and smart electric vehicle charging when integrated with solar PV could significantly increase solar consumption for some households and businesses and especially when solar PV is combined with battery storage.
Deep machine learning and artificial intelligence when integrated with your smart appliances and solar can help to forecast and manage generation and consumption as well as voice activation technology to make systems more user-friendly.
Generally, smart buildings through optimization increase energy efficiency, comfort and safety and with solar PV, more energy is saved reducing your energy footprint.
This article explained how the smart building concept can help to reduce energy consumption and allow for the integration of solar PV, EV charging and IoT helping you reduce your energy footprint to achieve sustainability. However, a key question is whether these smart building technologies can currently pay for themselves? Do they currently increase or decrease the return on investment on installation when combined with solar? EnergySage is a great starting point to help you figure out your energy savings when it comes to going solar.
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